Jesus – The True Vine John 15: 1-17
Jesus being the true vine, explains much about the shortcomings of much of religion today and down through the ages. It give light to the extra-biblical saying: “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” The best intentions without the life of “the life-giver” are no better than nasty rags in God’s economy and in regard to achieving eternal, abundant life.
Let us consider meaning and applications of: the vine, The True Vine, the branches, The Vinedresser (Husbandman KJV), and the fruit.
THE VINE – the True Vine = Jesus
Past References – The symbol of nation Israel – The golden vine on the front of the holy place in Herod’s temple, also on coins of Maccabees – in scripture …not flattering: no faith, justice, or righteousness… even killed the Son of the vineyard owner
Isaiah 5:1-7; Jeremiah 2:21; Ezekiel 15, 19:10; Hosea 10:1; Psalm 80:8
God intended Israel to be a display to the world that would demonstrate what grace could do in a people. They were intended to display His glory. But as a nation, they chose their own glory above the glory of God. The vine produced a bad crop, unworthy of the owner.
Future Reference – the vine of earth - Revelation 14:14-20 There will be a harvest of the crop that is earthy instead of godly. The crop will be abundant -the flow of the blood pressed out of the crop will be as high as the bridles on horses. But the produce, though abundant is cursed instead of blessed because it is not for God's glory, but for man's.
Present Reference – Jesus The fruit that is produced as a result of being connected to Jesus, the true vine, will glorify God.
NOTE about vines in Israel, then and now – Large, strong. When mature to break off a branch is to injure the vine. Vineyards require much attention to produce a worthy crop, but the established vines are sturdy. The True Vine is not in danger of ill-health. Those who abide in Him are not disconnected by winds of circumstance or minor incidents. If there is a disconnect, it will be by purposeful cutting of the vinedresser, not accident.
BRANCHES – followers (of Jesus or self)
Assignment – Bear fruit by abiding in the Vine A simple assignment for us, sticks.
and expect “pruning” (purging KJV) Pruning is cutting away unproductive wood so that it does not cause disease in the branch or cutting away healthy wood or even fruit to cause a harvest that is of greater quality and quantity.
- Pruning is like the narrow gate that Jesus said leads to life. Pruning and the narrow gate cause some culling of things in our lives. Pruning is God, the loving, perfect, vinedresser cutting away whatever is necessary to produce a greater glory for Him. To produce fruit for His glory is our job as branches. Sometimes He prunes things, people, areas in our lives that we think we deserve to keep. Sometimes the things He prunes from us are people that we love or possessions that we love and that we are sure that we deserve because we have been faithful...we have been productive... More about this under the heading of the Vinedresser
Alternative –
Take away – same word in v.11:29 (the stone over the tomb of Lazarus - taken out of the way) and in v.8:59 (rocks lifted up in this case for the purpose of throwing)
Trash fire – (dead grapevine is good for nothing, although I smoked some one time. I don't know why. It was not hard to give up) not acceptable as firewood for altar. Families were responsible for bringing wood to fire the altar of God. Grapevine was not acceptable as firewood for God's altar. Grapevine fires were just to get rid of "trash."
Abiding – resolute relationship “dwells in (KJV)” 1John 3:24
Union and communion with Jesus & His Word v.7, v.3 1John 3:24 i.e. head – body; body – member; groom- bride; shepherd - sheep; foundation – building Purposefully seeking to please Jesus by seeking His will and doing it. I speak a lot about the grace of God. It is only by His grace that we are drawn to Him, saved by Him, our sins forgiven by Him, our salvation secured by Him. But, He also has a requirement of purposefully turning away from yourself as lord and following Jesus as our master.
Obedience out of love – vv.9-10 We must demonstrate obedience to the will of God out of the respect that is due in a love relationship.
Assessment – We have ways to determine whether we are abiding in the Vine
fruit vv.2, 5, 8 Is God-honoring fruit being produced?
pruning v.2, Hebrews 12:6 Are we being honed by God as a result of His attention directed toward us as objects of His love?
prayer v.7 Are our prayers the expression of the heart of God and therefore answered for His glory?
love Jesus and fellow followers vv.9,12,13 Is our love for Jesus (expressed by our obedience and our desire to know and please Him) growing (regardless of how old we are or how long we have been following)?
joy v.11 Is glorifying Jesus your joy?
To Add to the Harvest – cultivate – Grape vines require much attention. – worship, Bible study, prayer, service, sacrifice
THE VINEDRESSER – God the Father
Owns the vineyard – Matthew 21:33 In the parable in Matthew, Jesus portrays God as the owner.
Prunes or purges v.2 = cut away dead wood to prevent disease / cut away living tissue so the strength of the plant is invested in crop / cut off bunches of grapes to improve quality as well as quantity of the harvest.
To be left alone, unattended is the greatest judgment of God.
The Father is never nearer than when you are being pruned. Though the pruning may be temporarily (in relation to eternity) painful, remember the proximity necessary for a vinedresser to do pruning. He has to be in arm's length. He has to be able to touch.
FRUIT – only from a living organism – not the same as “results” Man can produce results, but so can a machine.
Not for the benefit of the branch (Branches don’t eat grapes), rather for others - Proverbs 10:21 “The lips of the righteous feed many”
The result of time and cultivation 1Peter 5:6 "...in due time..."
Produces: * producers *holiness and obedience *giving *fruit of the Spirit *character and service *praise
A true branch, connected to (abiding in) the Vine, will produce fruit. Not every branch will have a bumper crop. Not every field will produce a bumper harvest. Not every crop will be a bumper crop. But, there is always fruit where there is life.
SO, IF WE DON’T PRODUCE ARE WE CAST IN THE FIRE, EVEN THOUGH WE WERE ONCE CONNECTED AND FRUITFUL?
Do not build doctrine on a parable or an allegory.
If a branch did not abide, it never had the life of the vine flowing through it.
Nonproductive branch with the life of the Vine in it will “be taken away”: 1)John 8:59 = picked up/cleaned up 2)1Corinthians 9:27 = disqualified for service 3)1Corinthians 11:30 = taken out of this field (life) Some examples of followers who put "self" before God and whom God took out of this life: Leviticus 10:1-5 The sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu (priests), made an offering to God that was unfitting, that demonstrated that they took God and His calling lightly, and God struck them dead. There is no reason to assume that God took His saving grace away from them, especially since verse 5 say that they were carried out in their priestly garments (their robes), indicating that the only thing that changed was their physical life, not their spiritual life.
Another example would be the case of Ananias and his wife Sapphira in Acts 5. They pretended to be offering all the profit from a land sale to God but were actually holding back some. Apparently, they had been faithful followers of Jesus and partakers of His grace, but on this occasion, they took lightly the holiness of God and God took them out of ... and great fear (awe) came upon the church. There is no reason to assume that Ananias and Sapphira went to Hell, but they lost their opportunity to glorify God on earth because they refused to let the "sap" of the life of Jesus flow through them.
THE ULTIMATE END OF ABIDING / FRUIT BEARING
The Glory of the Father v.8
Joy of Jesus and followers v.11
Friends of the King v.14
Friend = inner circle of king or best man at wedding
Know secrets of his heart but also serves and obeys
No conflict between friend and servant i.e. Abraham
Matthew 7:15-21
